Spirited: Film Review
We have seen many, many takes on Charles Dickens’s classic festive tale, A Christmas Carol, over the years and now Sean Anders has brought us another – a modern musical comedy retelling called Spirited.
The main character in A Christmas Carol is the old miser Ebeneezer Scrooge, but this version flips the focus onto the ghosts who haunt a new “perp” every year – the Ghost of Christmas Past (Sunita Mani), the Ghost of Christmas Present (Will Ferrell) and the Ghost of Yet-to-Come (voiced by Tracy Morgan). It shows how they research their perp’s life and prepare for their annual haunt. This year, they have chosen Clint Briggs (Ryan Reynolds), a controversial media manager. He proves to be a tough cookie to crack and turns the tables on Present.
When I learned that Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote the tunes for Spirited, I expected to hear feel-good earworms like they created for La La Land and The Greatest Showman. However, Spirited is one of their weaker projects. I can’t see myself playing the soundtrack on repeat like Showman and while they were enjoyable (and very foot-tapping) in the moment, they went out of my mind straight away and I can’t remember any of them.
Neither Reynolds nor Ferrell is particularly strong vocally so the songs shine the most when The Spirited Ensemble give them support. Similarly, neither are particularly strong dancers (Reynolds is definitely not a natural) so the musical numbers look the best when they’re surrounded by loads of backing dancers. A few of these sequences – the opening and closing numbers, one set at a convention and another in Victorian London – are spectacularly staged and the choreography is fantastic.
I had very low expectations for this movie but it won me over in no time at all. It is cheesy, full of festive cheer and doesn’t take itself seriously so hopefully it’ll melt the hearts of the cynics out there too. The script is very funny and delivers plenty of laugh-out-loud moments and the comedy partnership of Ferrell and Reynolds works wonders. A musical number in which they sing in a Dickensian London accent is bonkers but hilarious (in a WTF kind of way).
Admittedly, the film is slightly too long and feels a little overstuffed. There’s a bit too much going on in the third act and it would have been stronger if it was pared back. It plays with the structure of A Christmas Carol and tries to subvert it where possible so you don’t know where it’s going to end up and I must admit I was ready for it to wrap up about 15 minutes before it did.
Reynolds does the same shtick he does in every single film and it’s incredibly annoying. However, Briggs is supposed to be a giant douche so it kinda works here. Singing and dancing on film is a very vulnerable thing so I tip my hat to him for doing it when he’s not super gifted in those areas. Ferrell has sung on film before and is well cast as Present. They can both can get away with their singing and dancing skills though because this is a comedy first and foremost and the numbers don’t need to be perfect.
They may be the stars of the show but I also want to give a shout-out to Mani, because she was horny and hilarious, and Octavia Spencer, who was the heart of the film as Clint’s assistant Kimberly. She has a lovely singing voice too.
Spirited isn’t perfect but it’s a heartwarming festive film that left me with a big smile on my face.
On Apple TV+ from Friday 18th November